$2 Dollar a Day Challenge

TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Live on $2 a day

REGISTER TO TAKE THE CHALLENGE HERE!

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What is the $2 A Day Challenge?
The $2 a Day Challenge is an innovative new campaign from Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) to raise awareness about global poverty and to raise funds to support small, locally-run organizations in low-income countries who are doing great work improving incomes, combating disease, protecting the environment and promoting peace.

Why take the Challenge?
This $2 A Day Challenge is designed to give students an opportunity to step out of their daily lives and more tangibly reflect on the daily and prolonged challenges of living in poverty.

While most of can probably get by on $2 without any major hang-ups, could we sustain any of our current habits if we prolonged the exercise? How many materials goods and services do we take for granted everyday? The light switch you turn on when you wake up, clean water from the faucet to brush your teeth, a hot shower, a flushed toilet, machines that wash and dry clothes and dishes with the press of a button.  Cell phones, iPods, pencils and paper for school, coffee or a scone are all normal parts of our lives which would be luxuries elsewhere.

Win an Award to Continue to Work on Poverty-related Issues! AID will award $500 each to three winners to continue poverty-related work on their campus. One $500 award will be granted in each of the following categories: Best video to tie the $2 A Day Challenge to global poverty issues (maximum length 3 minutes) Largest number of people participating in the challenge. Largest amount of money donated to Global Giving. Working together with other students will increase your impact!

What incentive would you have to invest in something like an education, your own business idea, or even the clothes and bus fare for an interview that might get you a better job when that investment means taking a risk that compromises your ability to meet urgent daily consumption needs? What if that picture included elderly family member, younger siblings or children?

How do I take the Challenge?

Day 1, October 16th— Spend as you normally spend, but keep track of your spending. Track the costs of anything you spend cash, credit or debit on, as well as the resources you use during that day, for example, gas. In addition, track the costs of other resources that you may already have. For example, if you drive to work or school, calculate the cost of the gas per gallon that you use that day. Try to estimate the cost of services that you may not necessarily pay for on a daily basis: water, electricity, gas, the Internet, your phone, your clothes. 

Day 2, October 17th — Commit to spending only $2 and document your experience on film. What were the most challenging aspects of the day? What choices were you forced to make? What does lessons does this convey about life in extreme poverty? Maybe you have a low-impact lifestyle already so the challenge was easy. Maybe you have a high-impact lifestyle or go to school in an expensive city, which made the challenge increasingly difficult.

We want to know about your experiences! Maximum video length is 3 minutes, but the thoughts you convey and the way you structure your edits is up to you!  Upload your video to YouTube, tag it “AID $2 Challenge” plus your school, then email the link to Sarah@aidemocracy.org by Friday, October 24th.  If you are unable to film your challenge, please submit written commentaries to Sarah@aidemocracy.org to be featured on the $2 A Day Challenge website. All are encouraged to commend on the AID blog!

WATCH THE AID STAFF VIDEO

Day 3, October 18th — Calculate the monetary difference between what you normally spend per day, as documented on October 16th, and the $2 you spent on October 17th. Visit www.GlobalGiving.com/2dollar and donate the difference in your spending to an organization of your choice! AID is partnering with Global Giving, an online marketplace for transnational solidarity and support that connects donors with community projects that need support, so that you can make personal or group donations to committed organizations abroad dedicated to improving livelihoods and sustainable and creative opportunities for their communities. You can donate as an individual or pool the money raised by your AID chapter or other student group and donate to one group, thereby increasing the impact of your donation.

The Rules:

• All goods and services, excluding water and electricity, must not exceed two dollars.
• Campus meal plans may not be used, as meal swipes average between $5 and $10 dollars.  You may use food or drink that you already have in your home, but consumption must be restricted to one meal.
• Assume that your car is out of gas or your subway pass is empty. All transportation costs for the day must be factored into your $2.
• No cell phones.  No iPods or MP3 players. These highly personalized forms of communication and entertainment are luxuries individuals living on $2 can rarely afford without sacrificing other needs such as food or sanitation.
• Refrain from operating cooled or heated air in your immediate living space.

We understand and encourage you to reflect upon the implications of the fact that this challenge is being conducted within the context of a stable society and of great pre-existing wealth, both of which shield us from many of the major implications of extreme poverty.

Challenge Yourself and Challenge Others
Here are some ways AID suggests to raise awareness and increase the campaign’s impact and reach:

• Invite others to take the challenge. Ask other campus groups to co-sponsor and take part in the challenge. Post flyers; hold an interest meeting; announce it on your Facebook page!
• Send out a press release to your campus and local newspapers.
• Ask your Members of Congress to take the challenge. The United States spends less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget on poverty-fighting development assistance. Organize an email, letter writing, or call-in campaign (click here for sample letter) to ask your House Representative and Senators to “take the challenge” and to increase U.S. funds for poverty-fighting development assistance.
• Ask prominent members of your local community (campus administrators, the mayor or city council, religious leaders, and local artists) to take the challenge.
• Host a Global Development Matters "Dollar A Day" documentary screening the week of October 13th. The four film series tells the individual stories of Maria, Ibrahima, Wayne, Li, and Princess Cima, as they fight back against poverty to improve the lives of their families and communities. Maquilaopolis and Black Gold are two other great films for this campaign. Maquilopolis documents the struggles and success of women working in a maquila factory to get their communities cleaned up, promote decent work standards, and care for their families. Black Gold documents the impact of fair trade coffee on farmers and consumers.
• Plan a Stand Up event. Stand Up is a global mobilization for the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals. Last year, 43.7 million people joined Stand Up worldwide, setting a new world record. This year, they are asking people to Stand Up and Take Action October 17-19, to ensure governments worldwide hear our demands to end poverty and inequality.
• Write an article or editorial about “Taking the $2 Challenge” and global poverty after the event.
• Link the $2 A Day Challenge to fair trade. Fair trade is one way to reduce poverty by providing producers with a sustainable wage for their efforts and promoting sustainable production methods. Join AID’s Reverse Trick-or-Treating Initiative and organize a group of students to distribute fair trade chocolate and promote the benefits of fair trade on campus or within the community. Visit (http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/) to sign up for a Reverse Trick-or-Treat kit.
• Link the $2 A Day Challenge to securing fair trade or sweat-free purchasing on your campus. AID is currently providing $200 mini-grants for students to work on both Fair Trade and Living Wage issues. Visit http://aidemocracy.org/rcareplicates.php for more information on promoting fair trade, living wage and other human rights issues.
• Take the Challenge to the next level! Read about the experiences of students at Univeristy of Mary Washington as they connect the challenges of poverty to social enterprise and use the UMW Two Dollar Challenge each Spring for a WEEK to raise awareness and funds for micro-finance projects in Honduras.
• Challenge yourself and your community. Global poverty is an important issue that needs attention, but poverty exists in the U.S. as well. Could you and your friends organize a service project that addresses poverty locally while raising awareness of global poverty? Contact us for ideas and mini-grants.

Win an Award to Continue to Work on Poverty-related Issues!
AID will award $500 each to three winners to continue poverty-related work on their campus. One $500 award will be granted in each of the following categories:

• Best video to tie the $2 A Day Challenge to global poverty issues (maximum length 3 minutes)
• Largest number of people participating in the challenge.
• Largest amount of money donated to Global Giving. Working together with other students will increase your impact!